The Chamber of Mazarbul was the old chamber of records of Khazad-dûm. Probably built during the earlier years of Khazad-dûm, it was later used as a base by Balin when he began his ill-fated attempt at recolonization in the late Third Age.

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The chamber itself was probably built at around the same time as the Twenty-first Hall in the Seventh Level. This would have been slightly later than the earliest Dwarven delvings, which were to be found in the lower levels near the Great Gates.

In T.A.2989, Balin led a group of Dwarves to recolonize Moria. Balin chose the Twenty-first Hall as his headquarters and set up his seat in the Chamber of Mazarbul.

When Balin was killed a few years later, he was laid to rest in a tomb inside the chamber. It was there where the last remnants of the colony perished.

The Fellowship found the chamber thirty years after Balin came to Moria and it was here that Gandalf found the Book of Mazarbul, a record of Balin's recolonization efforts.

It was in the Chamber of Mazarbul that the Fellowship engaged in a brief fight with a band of orcs and a Cave-troll. They retreated through the east door and Gandalf attempted to guard it against the Balrog. The roof of the Chamber collapsed then.

The chamber was located to the right of a pathway that branched off the north end of the Twenty-first hall. When the Fellowship found the chamber as they passed through Moria, Balin's Tomb was located inside it, and a bright shaft of sunlight streamed in from outside the mountain to land directly on the tomb.

There were two stone doors leading into the chamber (one entrance from the Twenty-first Hall, one from the stair tunnels that the Fellowship later used to flee the Balrog). Many deep recesses were cut into the chamber rock containing chests that had been recently looted by the Orcs inhabiting Moria. A deep dust had fallen upon the entire room by the time the Fellowship entered it, and the remains of a long-abandoned battle site were to be seen strewn across the floor.

It is placed in the center of the Twenty-first Hall, rather than on the right of a corridor running off the hall to the north.

There is only one proper door explicitly shown leading into the chamber, rather than the two described in the book. This door is also made of wood in the film, rather than stone. There is, however, one smashed doorway out of the back of the chamber, with the window illuminating Balin's tomb above it, which the Fellowship flee out of.

A well is also introduced into the layout, directly below the shaft of light. This well was found in the guardroom of the Crossroads in the book, but was transplanted here to serve greater dramatic purpose.